Insomniac Wants Devs to Share Technology
By Chris on Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008 at 4:29 PM PST In Game Companies, Game Consoles, Game Platforms, Games, Games Industry, Sony
The idea of a AAA developer going out and sharing its technology with other developers for no reason other than to just do it seems like a silly notion from a crazed message board poster. But that’s exactly what Insomniac Games, developer of Ratchet & Clank and Resistance, is doing with its Nocturnal Initiative.
As the Nocturnal wiki page states, it isn’t a game engine. You won’t be going to the Nocturnal site and downloading an engine for you to plop your own game into. Instead, it attempts to provide “a useful toolbox for the professional game developer” with libraries that could be useful in the process of developing a game engine.
Insomniac engine director Mike Acton explained, “We really wanted to contribute back to the industry. That’s always been in the Insomniac philosophy, and from a tech and tools team point of view we wanted to do something very specific. Like I’ve said many times, we’re all here standing on the shoulders of the giants that came before us, so we feel it’s our responsibility to give back.”
He emphasized that it doesn’t matter if developers decide to use Nocturnal, but that they simply share through whatever means they find appropriate. “I think the ultimate goal, more so than just momentum and it building up over time, is to encourage developers to do the same thing – if not through our Nocturnal mission, if not through us, if they do it from their own sites or do it from GDC or whatever, if we can contribute in some way to other developers saying ‘Hey, if Insomniac can do it we can do it’ then that’s good for everybody. It makes no difference from a competitive point of view.”
But why would developers want to share their hard work? The ability to make a beautiful looking game is a developer’s edge, isn’t it? Acton doesn’t think so.
“I just want to encourage any other developer to join us in the bandwagon of sharing as much as possible. It’s important to get across that this isn’t what we’re competing on, that isn’t our competitive edge. Let the games stand on their own, but let’s share the tech, let’s share as much information as possible with each other and work together to make the better games for everybody.”
It’s a hard idea to really wrap your head around, and I can easily see people saying that all games would suddenly look the same and that it doesn’t make sense for developers to do. But in this world of increasing development costs that lead to higher and higher retail prices — making this hobby’s barrier of entry more and more difficult for people to swallow — wouldn’t it make sense to share certain facets of development so that teams can focus on what matters most? Developing a good game that doesn’t ship with bugs and actually lives up to the promises developers while simultaneously saving money and time seems like a win-win for everyone involved.
via Develop
Sadly, no other big-time developer will join in. Selling the engine is tone of the main sources of income for quite a few developers who create cutting-edge games(Valve, Epic, Crytek)
@ Blargh
I think you are right that no big developer that sells their game engines will join in but there are quite a few who dont.
In other words…they realize that alot of developers suck at making games on the PS3 and are going to help the poor saps out…
I don’t think that it’s necessarily for bigger devs such as Epic but more for the smaller ones or even devs that have had trouble using the PS3 architecture which makes it an absolutely wonderful idea, I think that was part of the point of their presentation at GDC this year as well.
A socialist approach to game development?
Might seem silly in the short term, with no-one else on the bandwagon yet; but ain’t that how it always starts? Once the ball starts rolling EVERYONE wants to get in on it.
Truth is, with the global economy declining people in every industry are looking for ways to save costs – and this could very well work for developers.
Games are a luxury, not a necessity; and to protect the industry at large it’s likely the individual companies will eventually band together in such a way…self-interest is still at the heart of this issue; helping others to help yourself.
You won’t see the big boys doing it (EA, I’m looking in your direction), but smaller development houses will definitely consider this. A sort of UN of developers…my money’s on the name GPA (Game Publishers’ Alliance).
I think this is an awesome step forward for the gaming community at large. I have been a gamer for over 20 years now and from my experience when developers share information, so much more gets accomplished and ends up being a wonderful experience for everyone involved all the way down to the consumer. Also this will hopefully allow for games to start focusing on being GREAT to play, not just to look at, which has seemed to be the trend for the past 10 years. Don’t get me wrong, I am all about pretty graphics (I own both a PS3 and a homebuilt gaming PC) but in the end if the concept, game play, and/or story don’t hold, I am not going to spend my money or time and play the game. Kudos to Insomniac for this as I love their games (especially Ratchet and Clank) and I feel this will improve their image in the eyes of everyone even more than it already is.